Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock traded as high as $69.77 and last traded at $69.60, with a volume of 445536 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.45.
The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. Ball's revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis.
Ball Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Ball's payout ratio is 35.71%.
Ball declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have issued reports on BALL. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Ball from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $61.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Truist Financial restated a "hold" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.58.
View Our Latest Report on BALL
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in Ball by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,211,527,000 after purchasing an additional 998,527 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Ball by 1.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,853,923 shares of the company's stock valued at $291,408,000 after purchasing an additional 72,585 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in Ball by 39.5% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,815,825 shares of the company's stock valued at $334,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645,909 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Ball by 3.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,138,780 shares of the company's stock valued at $156,248,000 after purchasing an additional 115,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 3.1% during the third quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,126,992 shares of the company's stock valued at $155,662,000 after buying an additional 95,415 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.
Ball Stock Up 6.7 %
The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $65.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.17, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.54.
Ball Company Profile
(
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Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.
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